In this article
LEFTB returns the first characters based on bytes. In English (single-byte) setups it behaves exactly like LEFT; it differs only when a double-byte language (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) is the default editing language.
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Syntax
=LEFTB(text,3)| Argument | What it means |
|---|---|
text |
Text to work on |
Examples
Example 1
=LEFTB(A2,3)Result: Mum. See the worked example table below for more cases.
LEFTB in practice
Where you will use it
- Japanese, Chinese or Korean data
- Fixed-width files measured in bytes
- Cleaning full-width characters from imported forms
Worked example
| Text | Formula | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Mumbai | =LEFTB(A2,3) | Mum |
| Excel | =LEFTB(A3,3) | Exc |
| 12345 | =LEFTB(A4,3) | 123 |
Results calculated in Excel. Calculated on an English (single-byte) Excel.
Mistakes people make
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Expecting different results in English | In single-byte setups the B versions match LEFT, LEN, etc. |
| Mixed-width data | Normalise with ASC first |
Related functions
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